Park Chan-wook working on new English-language adaptation of ‘Oldboy’
Park Chan-wook‘s second instalment in his Vengeance Trilogy, Oldboy, was released over 20 years ago, but the director isn’t done with the story yet.
The filmmaker has announced an English-language adaptation of the 2003 movie, transforming it into a television series. While it’s known Park will be producing the project alongside Syd Lim, little has been revealed about the rest of the cast and crew so far.
Oldboy was widely heralded upon its release, shocking viewers with certain intense violent scenes. The film follows a man named Oh Dae-su, played by Choi Min-sik, who has been locked in a hotel-like room for 15 years without knowing why.
After he’s finally released, the protagonist sets out to achieve revenge, although events soon become complicated as he attempts to find out the reason for his kidnapping and imprisonment.
Interestingly, the movie has already been remade twice, firstly by Indian filmmaker Sanjay Gupta, who released Zinda in 2006. Then, in 2013, Spike Lee made an American adaptation of the South Korean film, which was received with an overwhelmingly negative reception.
However, it failed to capture the essence of the original. Lee’s film was poorly received and was also a box office failure, widely considered one of his worst movies.
However, with Park overseeing a new English-language remake, Oldboy seems to be in much safer hands. Still, the director hasn’t explained why he feels the need to adapt the highly acclaimed film for English-language television audiences.
Park has made movies in both Korean and English before, although it’s been over ten years since he made movies not in his native language – 2013’s Stoker and Snowpiercer.
2022’s Korean-language Decision to Leave is his most recent directorial release, which was shortlisted to enter the Academy Awards as ‘Best International Feature Film’.
Since then, he’s directed and co-created a miniseries, The Sympathizer, which was recently released on HBO. Park has also written an upcoming Netflix film called Uprising, directed by Kim Sang-man.
We don’t know when his adaptation of Oldboy will begin production, but he’s excited to get started. “Lionsgate Television shares my creative vision for bringing Oldboy into the world of television,” he revealed in a statement.
“I look forward to working with a studio whose brand stands for bold, original, and risk-taking storytelling,” Park added.
Revisit the trailer for Oldboy below.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.